Back seat doggie deck

[Webwader]

Thank you. He was always beautiful to us, but it always amazed me that people would stop us and ask what kind of dog he was and that he was beautiful. We got him from the county pound and we figured he was a shepherd retriever mix. A few years ago we ran into some people at the local dog wash that had a dog that could have been his sister, except she was a few years younger and had come from Colorado. Their configutation was the same and their coloring was very similar. We asked if they knew what breed(s) their dog was and it was a mix of Golden Retriever, Black Lab and German Shepherd.
We will get another dog, but not right away. We have some events coming up in our life that would require an extensive stay in a kennel if we have a dog, so we will probably wait until those are past.

[Truckin']

We made a modification to our doggie deck since I posted this thread. After two camping trips I decided I'd rather have the two planks that comprise the deck be the same width. See post #1 and post #3 in this thread to see a comparison of the right side panel and you'll see how I evened this out.

Originally, I wanted the one behind the passenger seat a bit longer because with my short legs I don't push my seat back as far. I found that I would rather have a gap when we're traveling because I needed a place to stash my PowerBook. You can see it in its silver case standing right behind the passenger seat. The red container by the passenger's door is a water canteen for the dogs. It's handy to have right there.

I posted elsewhere that I thought the trunk was too hot for my computer. I did not like the idea of it kicking around under the tonneau cover either. When it's behind my seat, the doggie bedding covers it up so it is not visible.

Now both sections are an even 24". The modification took about half an hour. I thought I'd put this consideration out there in case anyone else is looking to copy our design. Also, I have more photos if you want to see more detail of our design. Just PM me.

[Erock40]

It's funny how many of us based the purchase of the Ridge on the fact we have dogs I wanted to make sure my American/English mix could ride.

[Truckin']

Welcome, Erock40. I'm tickled to see that your first post happened in my doggie deck thread.

I hope we'll be hearing a lot more from you. As you can see this is a very friendly bunch of knowledgeable people. We'd all like to have a chance to offer you a proper welcome, so we've set up a thread just for that. Swing by and tell us more about how you came to be part of the ROC.

If you are new to the forum...post here.

Oh, my! I had to edit this because somehow I missed a very important tidbit of information. You have a BLUE. Dogs look especially good in BLUE vehicles.

[Truckin']

Here are a couple of photos showing what we stowe under our doggie deck in the underseat storage and the other space created on the floor right in front of it.

[eric1build]

That design looks great.

Is the plywood thick enough to hold a 80lb. Lab?

Thanks,

E

Originally Posted by Truckin'

Our first and most important project was to make a safe and comfortable place for our dogs to ride. We spent the first weekend we had our Ridge designing and building this deck.

We'd spent enough time at the dealer crawling through the trucks on their lot, that I realized making something sturdy and level would be tricky. That's when the inspiration came to me to buy the underseat storage to provide the back end support for the deck. We made the front legs fold to make it easier to get the wood planks in and out of the back.

The front area of the floor space isn't level either, so we had to make the outside leg slightly longer than each inside leg. We used half inch plywood for the plank.

I also insisted that we make this in two pieces, allowing for the split seat to operate by taking out one or the other of the planks. That way if we want to give a person a ride, I can sit in the back with the dogs requiring minimal effort to rearrange their dog bed to stash the smaller plank under their cushions.

The plank behind the passenger seat is longer because I have shorter legs, so my front seat is pulled forward. There's no reason besides this to make it a different width than the piece behind the driver's seat.

[moumou48]

Brilliant Truckin’

[Truckin']

Originally Posted by eric1build

That design looks great.

Is the plywood thick enough to hold a 80lb. Lab?

Thanks,

E

Thanks for your appreciation of our project, Eric and moumou.

Yes, easily our girls weigh 65 and 70 pounds. We've also hauled our nephew's Great Dane back there. There is no give in it when I've climbed across it. DH weighs over 300 and he's climbed through on top of it.

Here's a pic of the girls, Sparkle and Shimmer. Also a pic of my nieces and nephew checking out our cool new truck.

[Chip]

Funny how many of us had the "Dog Factor" as a part of our decision to buy this truck. I just picked up my RL 10 days ago and a big part of the decision was how well in would handle our two Labs!

Before I found this thread (and before I bought the truck) I had thought of carpeted plywood with a front support and the back resting on the rear seats, thought this would give the girls better visibility out the rear windows. Can your two see out well without using the armrest pads?? They are a little taller than my two.

Nice work, I'll have to get serious as they've taken the maiden voyage and have decided the RL works well for them! Though for hunting they'll have to be in their kennel in the back, just get too dirty/dusty for the interior when we're being serious!

Chip

[Truckin']

Yes, they can both see out the window from a seated position now. In the back of the Trooper they were down in a deeper box and seemed to constantly be hanging over the top of the folded back seat to be part of the action.

We decided to go with the seats folded up to prevent wear and tear on the seats. This way they have the bottom of the seat near them, which is hard. We've draped another dog blanket over the back seat. It stays in place snuggly by just pushing a part of it down between the seat back and the folded bottom. It also leaves that blanket easy to grab if we ever want to throw it down for them when we're out and about.

I'm sure this method would get your labs up close enough to see out the window. Only Sparkle is tall. Shimmer is 22" at the shoulder, close to a lab's height.

Our girls still will stand on the armrest or doorsill to look out the window or sniff the air. That's why I provided the additional protection there. They spend much less time looking out than they ever did in the Trooper. It seems that they are very content in their Ridgeline.